A survey on XR remote collaboration in industry

Abstract

This paper provides a survey of eXtended Reality (XR) remote collaboration in industry. The field of XR remote collaboration is currently at a critical point as collaborative XR systems are becoming more prevalent in industry. Moreover, research on XR remote collaboration in industry is a compelling and evolving field of study, especially because XR technology has recently reached a level of maturity that enables researchers and practitioners to use its capabilities to enhance remote collaboration, rather than focusing solely on the development of the underlying technology. However, to our knowledge, there has yet to be a comprehensive survey on XR remote collaboration in industry. Thus, this paper presents a systematic review of literature published between 2019 and 2024 in this domain. We identified a total of 161 papers, with more than 57 % published in the last three years, and all relevant studies are discussed in detail from fundamental requirements, industrial applications, toolkits/platforms, and system evaluations. Our findings indicate that XR remote collaboration holds great potential across various industrial domains, including design (e.g., design review and co-design), manufacturing (e.g., assembly and inspection), service (e.g., maintenance and monitoring), and training. Since XR remote collaboration is being implemented in real industrial environments, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive academic roadmap and valuable insights into the cutting-edge of XR remote collaboration in industry. This work will also serve as a resource for both current and future researchers who are interested in collaborative XR systems and applications in industry.